Looking after the African Snails

Showing care and concern for our African Snails 

Within the Pre School Minors room, we have two large African Snails and quite a few smaller ones. We often get asked why we have these as pets and the answer to this is because they are not a typical pet and children find them very interesting.Over a short period of time, the children have watched the baby snails hatch from tiny eggs into very small snails. As the baby snails are still very small they have been rehoused into another container.  [ngg src="galleries" ids="247" display="basic_slideshow"]Each week the snail's house gets a clean out and new soil is replaced, giving the snails a fresh clean house. The children are always very keen to help with this task. The first job that is required is emptying the dirty soil out of the container, children are provided with gloves to protect their little hands. The fun bit is tipping the fresh soil back in and adding buckets of water to make the soil very soggy. The snails are carefully placed back into their new home and given some fresh cucumber to eat.As the snail containers are kept on a low down unit the children often peer in looking for where the snails are hiding. Majority of the time the snails are hanging upside down on the lid and children often tell practitioners they can't find them or they have escaped. Giant African land snails are a good first pet for children to have at home or to keep in nurseries, as children can study and observe the snails through a clear container without the need to frequently handle them.